What’s Current: Millions of women globally lose access to abortion and contraceptives amid COVID-19

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  • Millions of women globally have lost access to contraceptives and abortion services because of the pandemic. Across 37 countries, 2 million fewer women accessed reproductive care between January and June. In parts of West Africa, contraceptive provisions fell by 50 per cent.
  •  In India, marital rape is not a crime despite calls for reform, the penal code currently reads: “sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under 15 years of age, is not rape.”
  • French women’s rights activist Marguerite Stern, founder of the Collages Feminicides movement, was forced to move out of her home and relocate, fearing for her safety after threats from trans activists.
  • As countries in Southeast Asia crack down on a growing drug trafficking trade, women are overrepresented among those arrested. Women are frequently used by traffickers as mules, sometimes without their knowledge.
  • A new study found that women were 14 times likelier than men to die in climate change related disasters.
Genevieve Gluck

Genevieve Gluck is a writer and advocate for women's sex-based rights and creator of Women's Voices, an audio library dedicated to bringing awareness to feminist texts and speeches.